Method of making mechanical information storage device

ABSTRACT

A mechanical information storage device manufactured by winding a wire under tension to form a spiral. During the winding operation the wire is twisted sufficiently and in such direction as to create an internal stress therein such that after the spiral is cut to sever each turn thereof from the adjacent turns, the ends of each turn of the spiral tend to align in order to form a plurality of substantially planar rings. Each of the rings is then placed in a different one of a plurality of substantially planar circumferential grooves on a cylindrical support. The circumference of the grooves in the support is related to the size of the rings such that a gap is present between the ends of each of the rings when the rings are situated in the grooves. Each of the rings may be independently rotated about the axis of the support to position its gap in accordance with predetermined information to be stored.

Miner [451 Aug. 20, 1974 [75] Inventor: Carroll R. Miner, Wilbraham, Mass.

[73] Assignee: General Instrument Corporation,

Newark, NJ.

[22] Filed: Apr. 30, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 355,977

[ 52] U.S. Cl. 29/412, 29/439, 74/568 M Primary Examiner-Charles W. Lanham Assistant ExaminerVictor A. DiPalma [57] ABSTRACT A mechanical information storage device manufactured by winding a wire under tension to form a spiral. During the winding operation the wire is twisted sufficiently and in such direction as to create an internal stress therein such that after the spiral is cut to sever each turn thereof from the adjacent turns, the ends of each turn of the spiral tend to align in order to form a plurality of substantially planar rings. Each of the rings is then placed in a different one of a plurality of substantially planar circumferential grooves on a cylindrical support. The circumference of the grooves in the support is related to the size of the rings such that a gap is present between the ends of each of the rings when the rings are situated in the grooves. Each of the rings may be independently rotated about the axis of the support to position its gap in accordance with predetermined information to be stored.

9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEmuszo 1974- Y 3.829.956

SHEEI 10F 2 FIG. 2

METHOD OF MAKING MECHANICAL INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE The present invention relates to information storage devices and more particularly to a mechanical information storage device which has a relatively large capacity for its small size, and a method of manufacturing same.

Memory devices of various descriptions have been used for a variety of different purposes in recent years. These memory devices can be categorized broadly into two separate types, electrical and mechanical. Such devices are used in conjunction with various forms of retrieval mechanisms in order to store information either for solving particular problems through the manipulation of the information or to condition an apparatus attached thereto to perform a specific function in accordance with the information stored in the device. Although mechanical memories were extensively utilized in the computer field when analog computers were in wide use, these types of memories have mostly given way to electrical memories, except for certain specific applications. This is mainly due to the relatively small capacity of mechanical devices of a particular size; the expense in manufacturing the devices, as well as the extreme care which must be taken to eliminate changes in physical dimensions of rather large and complex mechanical storage systems.

However, for certain special applications, which require only limited memory capacity, mechanical memories of particular design are still utilized successfully. For example, the television industry has recently incorporated mechanical memory devices into television tuners to store information concerning the fine tuning setting of selected channels such that when the tuner is changed from one channel to another, the fine tuning for the channel is automatically adjusted to a preselected setting. The competition in the television tuner market demands that the tuner manufacturer produce tuners as small in size and as inexpensive as possible. An extra cost of only a few cents per tuner can make a substantial difference when the tuners are being manufactured in large numbers. Because of their cost, and the relatively small capacity necessary for these memory devices, mechanical memory devices are the most feasible for this-application.

Devices which are presently most commonly utilized in this regard make use ofindividual screws, cams, twist tabs, adjustable blades, and the like which may be individually positioned on a turret or in a disk. These elements are adjusted to actuate some sort of follower or sensor to cause a slave mechanism to repeat a preselected condition existing at the time of the original setting. When these devices are used in conjunction with a a VHF tuner which has only twelve channels, their size is relatively small and they are relatively inexpensive to manufacture; consequently, they have proven adequate for this application. However, now that the UHF band is becoming more and more widely used in television receivers, the prior art devices have proven to have too limited a capacity for an acceptable size. In order to use a device such as described in a UHF application, seventy individual adjustable elements would be required for the fine tuning of each of the seventy channels within the UHF spectrum. The devices of the prior art, when manufactured to provide such a capacity, he come so cumbersome that they take up more room than can be afforded to such a purpose within the tuner.

Because of this seemingly unreconcilable engineering problem, certain tuner manufacturers have come to a compromise with respect to the fine tuning memory. Specifically, instead of providing fine tuning for all seventy UHF channels, they have provided information storage devices for a limited number of the UHF'channels such as from six to perhaps 24 channels. The rationale behind this compromise is that a user in any particular location would most probably be unable to receive more than a limited number of channels and therefore it is not necessary to provide fine tuning memory capability for each of the seventy UHF channels. This, of course, is not the most desirable situation.

It is, therefore, the prime object of the present invention to provide a mechanical information storage device which has a relatively large capacity but which is of small size.

lt is a second object of the present invention to pro vide an inexpensive method for manufacturing a mechanical memory which is readily adaptable to mass production techniques.

lt is another object of the present invention to provide a mechanical information storage device which can be reliably built for long life and which can easily be repaired or replaced.

lt is still another object of the present invention to provide a mechanical information storage device for use in a mechanism conditionable to perform a specified function in accordance with the information stored in the device, and a method for manufacturing same.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a mechanical information storage device for use in a TV tuner which is capable of providing a fine tuning memory for all seventy of the UHF channels but which takes up minimal space and is inexpensive to produce.

in accordance with the present invention, a mechanical information storage device and a method of manufacturing sameare disclosed. The device can be used in conjunction with any mechanism conditionable to perform a specified function in accordance with information stored in the device. However, the device of the present invention is particularly applicable to provide a mechanical fine tuning memory for use in a UHF television receiver. It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that even though this disclosure relates specifically to the problem of providing memory tuning for UHF television channels, the application of this device is not limited thereto. The present invention is readily usable with any mechanism requiring a large number of ad justable elements which, when properly set to program a desired series of events, will retain the original adjustments, and whereupon repeated cycling of the mechanism will cause precise repetition of the functions originally programmed, automatically and without further manual adjustment or attention. For example, such use may be found in numerical control equipment used for the preprogrammed automatic operation of machine tools and the like.

The method of manufacturing the mechanical i formation storage device comprises the steps of wi ding a wire under tension to form a spiral. As the wire is being wound it is twisted sufficiently and in such direc tion as to create an internal stress therein. This internal stress is utilized, after the spiral is longitudinally cut to sever each turn thereof from the adjacent turns, to promote the alignment of the ends of each turn to form a plurality of substantially planar rings. Each of the rings is then placed in a different one of a plurality of substantially planar and substantially circular circumferential grooves on a cylindrical support. The grooves on the support have a circumference in relation to the size of the ring such that a gap is present between the ends of each of the rings when the rings are situated in the grooves. Each of the rings may then be independently rotated about the axis of the support to position its gap in accordance with predetermined information to be stored.

The mechanical information storage device is usable in conjunction with setting and sensing means which would provide the input and output from the memory. The particular setting and sensing means to be used in conjunction with the device of the present invention are beyond the scope of this invention and form no part thereof. However, several methods of utilizing the device of the present invention within a television tuner are described below for purposes of illustration.

One such method would be to use a detent mechanism which would cause the cylindrical support to rotate or "cock" to a datum position upon each change of selected channel. A stop pawl and means to index the stop pawl with the ring corresponding to the selected channel are provided. A torsion bias spring causes the support to return, after release, to the angular position dictated by the stop pawl encountering the open gap in the selected ring. The position of the support might then be utilized to position a fine tuning cam or gear operably connected therewith. Alternatively, it is also feasible to position a variable resistance potentiometer or rheostat arm in connection with the cylindrical support so as to control the voltage applied to the tuner mechanism. Means to turn the cylindrical sup port manually while locking the stop pawl into the gap in a ring would provide ready facility to adjust the position of each ring for initial fine tuning of selected channels.

Another method of performing this sensing operation is to utilize an electrical connection with the rings. This connection can be provided by means of a wiper or roller which, when a gap in a ring is encountered, opens a circuit so as to control a slave function in accordance with the angular position of the cylindrical support.

A third method is to use a roller to perform the sensing function. The roller would sense the ring gap mechanically and upon sensing the gap the drop of the roller into the ring gap may be used to cause either an electrical or mechanical sequence of events to occur in order to provide fine tuning. These methods are disclosed herein for purposes of illustration only. Other methods of causing a desired effect on the frequency of tuning by virtue of the angular position of the gap on a ring will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

To the accomplishment of the above and to such other aspects as they may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to a mechanical information storage device and a method for making same as defined in the appended claims and as described in the specification, taken together with the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a method of twisting and winding the wire under tension to form a spiral;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged top elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the device after the spiral has been placed on the cylindrical support and longitudinally cut;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to that shown in FIG. 2 wherein the ends of the individual rings have aligned and the rings are situated within the circumferential grooves of the support;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the individual rings after they have been rotated in accordance with the information to be stored; and

FIG. 5 is an end cross-sectional view taken along lines 5-5 of FIG. 4.

The method of the present invention comprises the steps of winding a wire, generally designated A, under tension to form a spiral, generally designated B. Normally, the winding operation will take place upon a preferably smooth-surfaced support, generally designated C. During the winding operation, the wire A is twisted sufficiently and in such direction as to create an internal stress therein. Preferably, the tensioning and twisting of wire A takes the wire through its yield point. The spiral B is then placed on a cylindrical support, generally designated D, having a plurality of substantially planar and substantially circular circumferential grooves, generally designated E, thereon. A longitudinal cut is then made along the spiral B to sever each individual turn of spiral B from the adjacent turns. This cutting operation may be performed prior to or subsequent to the placement of spiral B on cylindrical support D.

Because of the internal stress imparted to the turns by the twisting of the wire during the winding operation, a single turn of wire, when cut free of its neighboring turns, tends to straighten or assume the form of a flat circle or ring F. During the cutting operation a small clearance between the ends of each turn is provided. The ring F, formed by cutting the turns, is therefore not completely closed. The stress imparted on the wire during the winding operation is relieved after cutting because the ends of each turn tend to align to form a planar or substantially planar ring F depending upon the amount of stress experienced in winding. This is possible because of the clearance between the ends of each turn which is provided during cutting. Each'of the individual planar rings F then, either of its own accord, or with some manual assistance, will fall into a different one ofthe circumferential grooves E on cylindrical support D. The grooves E have a circumference related to the size of ring F such that a gap G, between the ends of each ring F, is present after the rings are placed within grooves E.

Each of the rings F is independently rotatable about the axis of support D to position its gap G in accordance with predetermined information which is to be stored by that individual ring. The friction between the ring F and support D will be sufficient to hold the ring in the preselected angular position with respect to the support until it is necessary to reset the ring by rotating it with respect to the support. The angular position of any of the rings F with respect to support D may then be sensed and utilized to condition a mechanism operably connected to the sensing means to perform a specified function.

lized as necessary. The drawings aresignificantly enlarged for illustration purposes. However, in actuality it is entirely feasible to have a device such as described herein with seventy rings, one for each of the UHF channels, which takes up only limited space, and is therefore readily adaptable for use in a TV tuner. The manufacturing process utilized in the production of this device is such that as many individual rings can be produced as is necessary for a particular application. The size of the gaps and the size of the support can likewise easily be varied to modify the device depending upon the intended application. Further, the diameter of the wire can be varied within limits in order to produce still more compact devices if necessary.

Referring now to FIG. 1, which illustrates a simple method of winding and twisting wire A to form a spiral B on a support C, a motor is operably connected to support C in order to rotate support C to wind the wire to form spiral B. Support C is preferably of circular cross-section; however, supports of different shapes can be utilized as desired as long as the end product is a spiral having substantially circularturns. The wire A is preferably a hard alloy wire. The wire commonly called Music Wire" has proven particularly useful in this regard, however, wires of different composition can also be utilized successfully. Prior to the winding operation, wire A is present on a spool or bobbin 12 which is rotatably mounted on a bracket 14 operably connected to a motor 16. Motor 16 rotates spool 12 about an axis perpendicular to the support C to twist wire A as it is wound on support C.

A pair of pressure rollers 18 are provided in operable communication with wire A between spool 12 and support C. When motor 10 is energized to rotate support 'C, wire A, one end of which is fixedly mounted to support C, begins to wind on support C to form spiral B.-

The wire is fed from spool 12 between pressure rollers 18 to support C. Pressure rollers 18 provide a frictional drag on wire A such that a tension is produced on wire A as it is wound around support C. The amount of tension which is produced on wire'A will depend upon the frictional drag on rollers 18 and the speed of motor 10. Simultaneously with the unwinding of wire A from spool 12, spool 12 is rotated about an axis perpendicular to support C by means of motor 16 which is connected to spool 12 by bracket 14. The rotation of motor 16 is counterclockwise (as seen in FIG. 1 and serves to induce an internal stress on wire A as it is wound on support C. The direction of stresswill depend upon the direction which the ends of each turn must move to align after cutting, as described in detail below. Preferably, the wire A is stressed through its yield point in the process of winding and twisting such that the turns of spiral B hug each other tightly and retain the circular shape imparted thereto.

Spiral B is then taken off cylindrical support C and placed on a second cylindrical support D. Support D has a plurality of substantially planar and substantially circular circumferential grooves E on the periphery thereof. Each groove E has substantially the same groove pitch as that of the spiral 8. Possibly prior to the placement of spiral B on support D, but preferably subsequent thereto, a longitudinal cut is produced along spiral B such that each turn of wire A is completely severed from the adjacent turns of the spiral, and a clearance is present between the ends of each turn. This configuration is shown in FIG. 2. The internal stress present in the wire tends to induce the ends of the wire of each turn to align to form a substantially planar ring F. Of course, the direction of the twist will be such that this alignment is facilitated. Further, the amount of twist will be calculated such that planar or substantially planar rings F are produced.

During the cutting operation a small clearance between the ends of each of the turns is produced such that when the ends of each turn can align without inter ference. The aligning process tends to relieve the stress induced by the twisting operation. As shown in FIG. 2, before the ends have aligned the separated turns will retain their spiral form because of the clinching action of the wire against the tips of the circumferential grooves about support D. However, when the ends of the turns are aligned to form rings F, each of the rings will slip into one of the circumferential grooves E, as shown in FIG. 3. This may occur without help, or some assistance by simple manual or mechanical means may be necessary to achieve this result. The circumference of grooves E is chosen in relation to the size of rings F such that a gap G is present between the ends of each ring after it is placed in the groove.

As can be seen in FIG. 4, each of the gaps G on the individual rings F can then be set in a particular angular position with respect to support D. This is accomplished by simply exerting enough force on the ring to overcome the friction between the ring F and the groove E into which the ring has been inserted. The tension produced during the winding operation causes the rings F to tightly hug the interior of the groove E into which they are placed and therefore retain the angular position in which they are set.

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of how one of the rings is situated within a groove E. It can be seen that the ring and the groove are in contact and, therefore, depending upon the tension present on the wire A during the winding of the spiral, a substantial amount of force will be required to overcome the frictional engagement between ring F and support D in order to rotate the ring. Thus the rings will retain their angular positions until forced to rotate with respect to the support.

The angular position of each of the rings may represent a bit of information which is stored thereon. For instance, if each of the rings represents the fine tuning setting for one particular channel, when that particular channel is selected a sensing device is indexed to communicate with the ring corresponding to that channel. The angular position of the gap associated with that ring with respect to the support is then sensed by the sensing device. The sensing device translates the angular position of the gap into a command which conditions the tuner to a fine tuning setting in accordance with the command. In this way a previously selected fine tuning setting is stored and retrieved from the information storage device in order to automatically set the fine tuning for any selected channel.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention and a preferred method of manufacturing same are specifically disclosed herein for purposes of illustration. It is apparent that many modifications and variations may be made upon the specific structure disclosed herein as well as upon the methods described herein. It is intended to cover all of these variations and modifications which fall within the scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims:

I claim:

1. A method of manufacturing a mechanical information storage device comprising the steps of winding a wire under tension to form a spiral, cutting said spiral to sever each turn thereof from the adjacent turns, aligning the ends of each turn to form a plurality of substantially planar rings, and placing each of said rings in a different one of a plurality of substantially planar and substantially circular circumferential grooves on a cylindrical support, said grooves having a circumference such in relation to said ring that a gap is present between the ends of each of said rings when said rings are received in said grooves whereby each of said rings may be independently rotated around the axis of said support to position its gap in accordance with predetermined information to be stored.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of winding comprises twisting the wire as it is wound under tension to form the spiral.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the wire is stressed beyond its yield point during the winding thereof.

4. The method according to claim 2 wherein said wire is stressed beyond its yield point during the winding and twisting thereof.

5. The method according to claim 2 wherein the wire is twisted sufficiently and in such direction as to create an internal stress therein such that the ends of each turn of the spiral tend to move to a position wherein they are in substantial alignment.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein said tension is sufficient to cause each of said rings to frictionally adhere to the groove in which it is placed such that the relative angular position of said ring in said groove is releasably retained.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of winding a wire under tension to form a spiral comprises the steps of connecting one end of the wire to a smooth surfaced support, rotating the support to wind the wire thereon and engaging the wire between pressure rollers which are not freely rotatable to create a tension on the wire as it is wound.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein the step of cutting said spiral comprises removing the spiral from the support, transferring the spiral onto the grooved cylindrical support and cutting the spiral.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of twisting the wire facilitates placement of the rings into the grooves on the cylindrical support. 

1. A method of manufacturing a mechanical information storage device comprising the steps of winding a wire under tension to form a spiral, cutting said spiral to sever each turn thereof from the adjacent turns, aligning the ends of each turn to form a plurality of substantially planar rings, and placing each of said rings in a different one of a plurality of substantially planar and substantially circular circumferential grooves on a cylindrical support, said grooves having a circumference such in relation to said ring that a gap is present between the ends of each of said rings when said rings are received in said grooves whereby each of said rings may be independently rotated around the axis of said support to position its gap in accordance with predetermined information to be stored.
 2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of winding comprises twisting the wire as it is wound under tension to form the spiral.
 3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the wire is stressed beyond its yield point during the winding thereof.
 4. The method according to claim 2 wherein said wire is stressed beyond its yield point during the winding and twisting thereof.
 5. The method according to claim 2 wherein the wire is twisted sufficiently and in such direction as to create an internal stress therein such that the ends of each turn of the spiral tend to move to a position wherein they are in substantial alignment.
 6. The method according to claim 1 wherein said tension is sufficient to cause each of said rings to frictionally adhere to the groove in which it is placed such that the reLative angular position of said ring in said groove is releasably retained.
 7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of winding a wire under tension to form a spiral comprises the steps of connecting one end of the wire to a smooth surfaced support, rotating the support to wind the wire thereon and engaging the wire between pressure rollers which are not freely rotatable to create a tension on the wire as it is wound.
 8. The method according to claim 7 wherein the step of cutting said spiral comprises removing the spiral from the support, transferring the spiral onto the grooved cylindrical support and cutting the spiral.
 9. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of twisting the wire facilitates placement of the rings into the grooves on the cylindrical support. 